Schmapp Berlin!

I am so proud that I photo I took in Gorlitzer park in Berlin in summer 2006 is included in the new schmapp guide to Berlin. I'd never heard of these interactive map cityguides, but they seem like I really good idea. Rest assured I'll be checking them out for the cities I plan to visit in the next year... Barcelona and Glasgow! See my contribution to the Berlin schmapp here:

Sufjan Stevens and the BQE

On Friday evening I went with my friends to BAM to see Sufjan Stevens perform The BQE, which is a new work that BAM comissioned celebrating Robert Moses' unlikely monument to automobile culture and "ubran renewal." With three film screens, dancers with glowing hula hoops and a full orchestra, it was a stunning piece. It reminded me of the ballet I saw in Paris by Robyn Orlin, who also incorporated film into her work in a very dynamic way. The performance made me think about how I relate to Brooklyn visually--what are the sights I see everyday as I move around the city that are actually monuments (or ruins) or a certain kind? The blue gorilla near 9th street and the Gowanus canal? The bright yellow storage warehouse on Atlantic Ave? Sunset Park's numerous industrial buildings and dentention center? Dumbo and Williamsburg's new high rise condos? The other effect the piece had on me was it lead me to reflect on a relationship I was in several years ago with someone who lived in Queens. I never thought about it like this before, but our relationship was so much about the BQE. There was always traffic, rough pavement, and construction at unlikely times. I learned very quickly that the BQE was not a road to be trusted; expressway often meant anything but. I knew so many sights in Sufjan's film from that time in my life- the bridges, the Queens cemetaries, the Manhattan skyline as seen from Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I'm glad it's been memorialized and analyzed in someway. It made me realize my trips on the BQE are probably my fondest memories from those days.

Fall at Coney Island

Double Shadow
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

G. semi-suprised me with a visit this fall. In honor of the outer boroughs we also took an off-season trip to Coney Island. The beach was way cleaner than in the summer and the water warm enough to wade.

Trip to the Queens County Farm Museum

The perfect pumpkin
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

Last weekend, in honor of all things Halloween, Andi organized a trip to the Queens County Farm Museum. It was really far away (it's practically in Nassau county), but once we got there I felt like I had been transported back to Maine and the Cumberland County Fair. There were sad looking animals in small pens, a cord maze (it was too crowded to go) and a pumpkin patch where you could pick out your own pumpkin, which we did. I'm glad that there is a place that is trying to teach city people about farming, but I wish the farm was a little less hokey in a way. We had fun though and next year I want to go back when it's less crowded and try the amazing maize maze!

LJ reading at ABC No Rio

LJ reading at ABC No Rio
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

Several weeks ago (time is going too fast!) there was a zine reading at ABC No Rio as part of their "Art of Zines" show. It was pretty awesome to hear some old school zinesters like LJ and Elissa Nelson read. I thought about how not only had I started reading their zines about 10 years ago, but how amazing it is that we have become friends. There has been a small amount of zine activity around the city lately (I taught a workshop and attended a reading at Think Coffee the week previous) and I find that so interesting and important. Even though I'm not always sure what the power of zines are in the digital age, I know they have power. Seeing all the zines also motivated me to finally finish a new one. It's going to be about art (big suprise) and especially about art I hate (nothing like a good rant for a zine, right?).